Seahawks lose two coaches, hope to keep Tom Cable

Pete Carroll spent roughly 45 minutes Tuesday answering reporters’ questions, many of which centered around Tarvaris Jackson and the team’s plans at quarterback.

Here are some non-quarterback-related notes from Carroll’s season-ending press conference:

Coaching changes: Carroll confirmed that two coaches have accepted positions on college staffs. Luke Butkus, a quality control assistant who also worked with the offensive line, will join Tim Beckman’s staff at Illinois, which is Butkus’ alma mater. Special teams assistant Jeff Ulbrich will join Jim Mora’s staff at UCLA. Ulbrich was a linebacker for the 49ers when Mora was San Francisco’s defensive coordinator.

Tom Cable

Both Beckman and Mora were recently hired.

Carroll addressed the likelihood that offensive line coach/assistant head coach Tom Cable will generate interest from teams looking for a head coach given the impact he’s had on Seattle’s running game, which improved drastically despite losing three starting offensive linemen.

“It’s just a matter of time before somebody recognizes that and wants to come after him. I don’t know when that’s going to happen. I’m cutting the wires on his telephone,” Carroll quipped. “I better get his cell phone instead, huh? But as far as I know, nothing has happened yet at this point.”

Injury updates: Wide receiver Sidney Rice indicated on Twitter that he had surgery Tuesday. Carroll said the surgery was to repair the labrum injury that kept Rice out of Seattle’s first two games of the season and that he may not be ready when the team begins OTAs and minicamps in mid-April.

According to Carroll, team doctors are hopeful that Jackson won’t need surgery to repair his torn pectoral muscle, saying that will be the case barring any new information.

“That will really be a big boost for his offseason obviously because it’s a three-to-four-month deal if you do it,” Carroll said.

Left tackle Russell Okung’s torn pectoral muscle is expected to be healed in time for minicamps, but Carroll said he isn’t sure whether rookie right tackle James Carpenter will be ready by the beginning of training camp. Carpenter and rookie right guard John Moffitt suffered season-ending knee injuries in November.